


Face to Face, Back to Back

by misura



Category: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Genre: M/M, Reunion Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 10:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19332700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Proteus and Sinbad renew their friendship en route to Syracuse.





	Face to Face, Back to Back

Sinbad's cabin held a life's worth of treasures and mementos. Proteus picked up a necklace at random to study it, trying to imagine where Sinbad had gotten it, what kind of woman might have worn it before Sinbad had taken it from her - with her consent, at the time? With a knife set against her throat? With the light-fingered touch of a thief and her only realizing it was gone when Sinbad was as well?

_I don't know him anymore._

"Careful with that, will you?" Sinbad said, looking like he hadn't just come _this_ close to drowning - or to damning all of Syracuse for the sake of some money. _Or, all right, a lot of money. Still._

"Where'd you get it?" Proteus didn't know much about jewelry. For all he knew, the necklace was worth as much as his ship, or could be bought by any soldier in his company for a week's wages.

Sinbad grinned. "Tell you what: you wear it for me, and I'll tell you."

Proteus frowned. "It's not cursed, is it?"

"You know what, that hurts. Really, it does. Where's the trust?" Sinbad asked.

Proteus sighed. "Fine. Why not?" He would no doubt look ridiculous, but a bit of ridicule would be easier to swallow than Sinbad's coldness, Sinbad's insistence on the distance between them, on the two of them no longer being even so much as friends.

His fingers struggled with the clasp. Sinbad rolled his eyes and walked over to help him. "How'd you survive all these years without me, eh?"

Proteus felt the heat of Sinbad's body, the touch of Sinbad's hands on his neck. He imagined turning around, bringing up his own hands and kissing Sinbad. Imagined Sinbad kissing him back, instead of continuing to talk about how they had both taken different paths.

"I think I did all right," he said.

"Yeah, well, you're a prince. There." Sinbad stepped back. "Done. Now let me see how it looks."

"Being a prince means I have a lot of responsibilities," Proteus said.

"Also a lot of money," said Sinbad. "A lot of flunkies, always plenty of food to eat, and oh yeah, money. And did I mention money? Because honestly, I do think being a prince means you have a lot of that."

"You don't seem to be doing too poorly in that quarter yourself," Proteus said. A mistake: he didn't really want to know how successful Sinbad had been as a pirate and a thief.

"I put a lot of hard work into collecting all this, I'll have you know." Sinbad removed what looked like a pair of hollow giant eggs from a chair and sat down. "A pirate's life's not all fun and games."

"I would imagine your victims did not consider their experiences all fun and games, either." Proteus tried not to sound like he was judging - but he was. Sinbad had been brave and brilliant and beautiful and bright as sunlight. He could have become anything he'd set his heart on.

_He could have stayed,_ Proteus thought.

"Probably not, no." Sinbad shrugged. "But hey, they knew the risks when they set sail. If they didn't want me to rob them, they should have hired more security."

Proteus opened his mouth to point out what a ridiculous argument that was, then changed his mind. He no longer wanted to know about the necklace, or to look at all the other items in this cabin, all this other proof of Sinbad no longer being the boy he's once known and been proud to call 'friend'.

"Help me get this off, will you?" He wouldn't let himself feel anything, Proteus told himself.

"Hey, now, that wasn't the deal," Sinbad said. "At least take off your shirt. Come on, Proteus, don't go all shy on me now."

Proteus stared at him.

"The necklace?" Sinbad reminded him, as if Proteus needed reminding. "You promised you'd let me see how it looked on you. And unlike me, you're a prince. When you promise something, it's a promise."

"What about when you promise something?" Proteus did not see what his shirt had to do with anything.

"Eh." Sinbad shrugged. "It depends. You know. I mean, I'm a pirate."

"Being a pirate does not mean you have no honor," Proteus said.

Sinbad grinned at him. "Thank you! I'm flattered. Now, the shirt?"

Proteus narrowed his eyes, thinking. "How's this? I take off mine if you take off yours. That's fair, isn't it?"

"In case you hadn't heard me the first - oh, dozen times I told you, I'm a pirate now. Fair isn't exactly part of the job description." Sinbad's expression turned thoughtful. "Then again, why not? Though tell you what, let's make it a little more interesting, what do you say?"

"Interesting," Proteus repeated. If Sinbad was going to suggest he take off his pants as well, Proteus was going to - _what? Strip naked just on the off-chance you can_ seduce _him into no longer being a pirate?_

Sinbad shrugged. "You take off mine, I take off yours. Unless you're scared of catching cooties from the big, bad pirate, of course. Are you?"

_Cooties._ Proteus rolled his eyes. "I think we're a bit too grown-up to worry about something like that."

"Great." Sinbad stepped closer. He smelled of exotic spices, of all the places Proteus would never see or visit because his duties kept him near Syracuse. "So what's stopping you?"

_A better question might be: what are you doing?_ Proteus reached out, the material of Sinbad's shirt soft under his hands. His mouth felt dry. He wanted - _this is a bad idea._

"Nervous? Don't worry - I'll be gentle," Sinbad said.

"Excuse me?" Proteus said, almost taking a step back.

Sinbad leered. Proteus managed not to burst out laughing mostly because of what a relief it was to know for sure that they were indeed on the same page here, even if Sinbad was going to be as much of a pain about this as he had been about pretty much anything else since their reunion.

"Hey. Just because I'm a pirate, that doesn't mean I don't know how to show people a good time. Better than you, I bet," Sinbad added. "I mean, who's going to tell a prince when they suck in bed?"

_You should meet my ex-fiancee,_ Proteus thought. "You?" he suggested.

"It would be my duty as your very good friend," Sinbad said.

"As your very good friend, I must tell you that I am beginning to get the feeling you're all talk," Proteus said. He felt light-headed, a bit drunk. After Marina, there had seemed little point in pursuing a relationship with anyone else. Rather, he had begun to wonder if perhaps the gods simply had intended for him to remain alone, to make his way through life by himself, with only his honor and his duty to keep him company.

And now there was Sinbad, back in his life, still as cocky as ever. _A pirate,_ Proteus reminded himself, though it did not seem as important as it had seemed five minutes ago.

"Oh, I'm all talk?" Sinbad flashed him a grin and pulled off his shirt. There were fewer scars than Proteus would have expected, though some of the ones that were there looked nasty.

"I thought the agreement was that I'd do that," Proteus said.

"I'm changing the agreement. I'm a pirate; we do that sort of stuff. Besides, you were taking forever."

Proteus closed his eyes. This still felt like a bad idea. It also felt like the best thing that had happened to him in a long time, and there was always a chance he'd be able to talk Sinbad into pursuing a more honorable career path when he - when they had renewed their friendship.

He'd have to be smart about it, of course. Diplomatic.

"Don't tell me you're backing out on me now," Sinbad said. "I mean, I know I can be a little bit intimidating, and you're probably used to people who swoon as soon as you so much as smile at them, but - "

Proteus smiled.

"See?" Sinbad said after perhaps five seconds, as if he had never stopped talking. "Not even a shiver."

"You must be a very tough pirate indeed, to be able to just stand there when people smile at you."

"Funny. If we're going to be friends again, you're really going to have to work on your sense of humor," Sinbad said. "And don't even get me started on your fighting technique. I mean sure, it looks pretty, but - "

Proteus kissed him. He realized too late that he was still wearing his shirt, but Sinbad didn't seem to mind and after a moment, he felt Sinbad's hands pulling it up so he lifted his arms, and then they were both shirtless and kissing again, and if this was Sinbad's idea of being gentle, Proteus had news for him, as well as maybe a few pointers - not that he was complaining right now.

"Bed," Sinbad said, and Proteus nodded and somehow managed to get them both there without tripping over anything.

 

"Maybe I could pretend to have kidnapped you," Sinbad said, by way of telling Proteus that last night had not been a mistake in his book and that he wanted to have sex again some time - or so Proteus decided to interpret the statement.

"No."

"Pretty sure your father would pay me," Sinbad said. "And hey, if I ask for a big enough ransom, it's going to take them a long time to put it together. Think about it."

"I was thinking I could bring you home as this dangerous pirate I had somehow managed to capture. We would put you in a very secure dungeon and I'd be able to come visit you as often as I liked," Proteus said.

"Sorry, but I'm highly allergic to dungeons. And chains. And prison food."

"We'll think of something," Proteus said. He realized that he should get out of bed and start doing the job he'd come here to do.

"What's wrong with my idea? My idea was great."

"It really wasn't," Proteus said. "And anyway, I would have to try to escape. For realism. How do you think you'd be able to keep me here?"

"Hey." Sinbad grinned. "It's hard to plan a successful escape when you're all worn out."

"It's also hard to keep a man from leaving when you can barely lift a finger," Proteus said. "And don't tell me your men are good enough to stop me. We both know they're no kind of match for me."

Sinbad groaned. "If you continue to be this annoying, maybe I won't even want to keep you here."

Proteus kissed him rather than calling him a liar.


End file.
